Motorized pressure juice extractor



May 17, 1949. 6. LE WlTT MOTORIZED PRESSURE JUICE EXTRACTOR 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 11, 1947 INVENTOR GEORGE LEWITT BYygW ATTORNEY May 17, 1949. 6. LE wrr'r 2,470,708

' uowomzsn PRESSURE JUICE EXTRACTOR Filed March 11, 1947 s Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR GEORGE LEWJTT ATTORNEY Patented May 17, 1949 UNITED 16E MOIUR'IZED BRESSURE LTUEGE'EXTRACT-OR lfieorge Le Witt, NewBritai n,- C onn.

- *AppIica-tion Ma-rch11, 1947,.Serial No. 733,737

(Cl. 1i00-.xi42*) w 6iClaims. 1

. This; invention: relates. totjuiceextractiomand more particularly. toa lmotoroperated; extractor for the juice. of a "citrus fruit.

One-object ofthe intention. is: to provide a device of the :above:nature .ofr-the rack andegear type, whichv may beemanuallyecotrtrolledesoxas to mechanically (advancethe ,extractingrhead against --the.citrus fruit 'section-,:.-without rotatiomuntilfully-crushed, andin whichsaid head will-be dis-engaged; automaticallytherefrom-when the handle, is released.

A furtherobject isto provide-an apparatus-of the above nature in whichtherlowen-i'rxcd cone is readily adjustable to receive variouscsizesiofcitrus fruit, andainwhich the upperextractor head will continue itsdownward; crushing-motion under the: Operation-of.- the: motor and; gearreduction unit until the-controlhandle 'is;.r1e leased, or until acircuit. breaker i-soperated'.

' A 'turtheruobjectis to provide a device of the above nature which willbe simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy: toinstalland-manipulate, compact, ornamental-yin appearance; and very efficientand durablein use.

With these-and otherobjects in-view,.1there has been illustrated in theaccompanying drawings one formin which-theinVention-may-conveniently.be. embodied in practice.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 represents a side viewof theimproved. fruit juice extractor.

r Fig. 2 is a front view otthe same-asitappears at the startof theextracting operation with the motor in horizontal. position,- and.withthe switch closed.

Fig. 3 is a top plan-view of the same.

Fig. lis aviewof the upper part.of..theapparatus. as. it appears. with.the motor. tilted out of operating position and with the switch open andthe rack-operating Worm out of mesh with its worm wheel.

Fig. 5 is a similar view of. theupper partof the apparatus, with themotor switch closed,and with the worm and worm wheel in meshwith eachother.

Fig. 6. is a diagrammatic View of the electrical circuits of theapparatus.

Referring .now to the drawingsin which like reference numerals denotecorresponding. parts throughoutthe several views; the numeralymindicatesa horizontal U-shaped base having-tour rubber feet H at the cornersthereof, and provided with an upstanding neck I2 and a verticalupstanding supporting post l3.

At the top of the post l3, provision is made 2 2 ofaninclined -sidebracket l4 having adependingbottom hub I-5 fitted over the top -of;.said postlisaid hub l5. having a side horizontal stop seat I 6 for aDu-rpose to be hereinafter. described.

The side-bracket l lxis. also provided. at. its upper-- end with anupstanding rack-enclosing hub l 6a having a square: aperture 'fOIIOOSGIY'Bmbracing a-ve'rtical-rack-=rod:27 having rack-teeth 28- on oneside thereof.

Thefiuitsection F from which' the juice. is..to be -extractedis adaptedlto -be placed on a stationar'y bottom. ribbed perforated: extractonconeH having aperipherah base flange;- 98, and a fiat top/ 18m asclearlyshown .in Fig. l.

Thebottom-cone" il. isadaptedi' tosbe; embraced at its lower portion byan annular juice receiver 19, having an inclined bottom funnel spout 20,said funnel spout being supported by an adjustable braeket zl, having aconical section 22, fitted-about-the-spout :20, and a rear integralcolla'i 23- which may be-securled to thapost' 13 at any desired heightby means-of a'set screw=.2'4. -"The fruit section F is adaptedto beplaced upon the lower cone ll' and crushed fOlIBXtlflCting the juicetherefromby means-of a hollow upper extracto'r head 25sprovided with a.frustoconical inner sectiori zfi. The. top'of the. head 25=is s'ecuredtothe lower end of ..the vertical rack: rod' 21; which has atop. handlevknobv 29 for convenience in raising the-head 125 from the fruit sectionF after the extracting operationhas been'completed.

I -In:order-to drive theupper extracting headi25 downwardly:mechanically, provisionis made "of an horizontal :racki-engaging idler.pinion; 30. mounted upon a rotatable shaft 3i, secured to the bra'eketf.l 4 .by a. pairi of. end .nuts232',133. 'The shaft 5313 alsotcarries aworm;- gear 134 adapted-to be i driven by a wormll35' mounted aboveit-upona sha'ft 36 of a motor and-gearreducer-unitt'bthelatter having'two pairs of -bottom ears- 38, 39, which are detachably'secured to amotorsupport' baselfl, as -by-mea-ns of four locking bolts 40a.

Themotor unitbase 4D. has a forward pivot section. 4!..provided. with ahorizontal aperture titer. piyotally. receiving a pints,- about whichtheemotornmay. be swung on a. horizontal. axis from. the .inac'ti-veposition. shown .in Fig, aitdthe operating positionshown in Fig. 1

The motor 31 is encased by an oval housing 44 which encloses a coolingfan 45 located at the rear of said motor for drawing air inwardlythrough a group of ventilating openings 46 in the rear of said housing44.

The motor unit base 4!! also carries a microswitch 4'! having 9,depending movable contact 48, which is adapted to be engaged by anadjustable lug 49 mounted on the side bracket 14.

In order to permit the motor to be manually tilted about its pivot pin43, provision is made on the housing 44, of an elongated substantiallyhorizontal spoon-shaped handle 50, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 ofthe drawings.

Provision is also made of a leaf spring 5| connected to the socket I5and engaging the bottom of the motor and gear unit 31said spring 5!serving to urge the motor unit into the tilted inactive position shownin Fig. l whenever the handle 50 is released.

Provision is also made of a two-conductor electrical cord 5?. forsupplying energy to the motor, and a single-conductor cord 53 forconnecting the motor to a circuit breaker 54 which serves toautomatically break the circuit through the motor and gear reducer unit31, when the extractor head 25 has moved downwardly to a predeterminedpoint, as a safety measure and insure against overloading of the motor.

The circuit breaker 54 includes a movable insulation plunger 55 which isadapted to be depressed when engaged by a side arm 51 carried by thelower end of the hand knob 29. This action will spread apart a pair ofresilient contacts 58, 59 and open the motor circuit automatically. Aconductor cord 56 connects the terminal 59 of the circuit breaker 54 tothe microswitch 41. A similar single conductor cord 69 is provided forconnecting said microswitch 41 to the cord 52.

Operation In operation, when it is desired to extract the juice from acitrus fruit, a fruit section F will be placed manually on the top ofthe fixed bottom cone H, and the extractor head 25 allowed to drop bygravity thereon under the control of the handle knob 29.

The handle 55 of the motor casing will then be manually depressed andheld down against the action of the spring 52, causing the worm 35 tomesh with the worm gear 34 and at the same time the lug 49 will closethe motor switch 41 and start the rotation of the horizontal worm 35.

This will cause the rotation of the pinion 30 and worm gear 34 and forcethe rack rod 21 to move downwardly until the upper hollow head 25 of thesqueezer crushes the fruit section against the fixed lower cone i1crushing it and extracting the juice therefrom. The downward motion ofthe head 25 will continue until the operator releases his hold on thehandle 50, whereupon the leaf spring 5! will cause the motor to tilt tothe position of Fig. i and the worm gear 341 to be disengaged from theworm 35.

The motor circuit will also be broken whenever the arm 5'! engages theplunger 55 of the circuit breaker 54.

The juice extracted from the fruit will pass through the funnel spout 20to a suitable container, not shown, located beneath the receiver 19. Theextractor head 25 and the rack rod 21 may then be manually raisedsumciently to release the fruit section F from which the juice 4 hasbeen extracted. Another half fruit section F may then be placed upon thelower cone l1, and the upper extractor head 25 will be allowed to dropby gravity thereupon and extracted as before.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in whichthe invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form isto be shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the inventionis not to be limited to a specific disclosure, but may be modified andembodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications and embodimentscoming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new andfor which it is desired to secure Letters Patent is:

1. In a juice extractor, a supporting post having an upper side bracket,said bracket having a side hub, a rack mounted to move up and downwithin said hub, an idle pinion mounted on said bracket and engagingsaid rack, a shaft mounting said idle pinion and having a worm gearthereon, a gear reduction motor unit tiltably mounted on said bracket,and carrying a worm on the motor shaft, said worm being caused to engagesaid worm gear when said motor unit is tilted in one direction, a stopon said bracket engaged by the base of said motor unit to support saidmotor unit when tilted out of use, a base cone secured to said post, anda movable hollow juice extractor head secured to the lower end of saidrack.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which spring means are providedto normally hold said worm out of mesh with said worm gear, when theextractor is out of use.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which said motor is mounted ona, horizontal axis in said bracket.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which said motor and gearreduction unit is surrounded by a housing having a manually-operablehandle to depress said worm into mesh with the worm gear.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which a switch is provided onthe motor unit base, said switch having a projecting contact, and a lugon said bracket in alignment with said contact to close the switch whenthe motor unit is swung about its pivotal axis whereby the extractorhead Will be driven downwardly to crush the fruit section against saidlower cone.

6. The invention defined in claim 1, in which provision is made of acircuit breaker to open the motor circuit whenever said extractor headmoves downwardly to a predetermined point.

GEORGE LE WITT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,958,570 Flegel May 15, 19342,183,804 Bloomfield Dec. 19, 1939 2,326,996 Fuge Aug. 17, 19432,330,860 Behar Oct. 5, 1943 2,372,862 Strauss Apr. 3, 1945

